After operating a multifamily property management business called the Leaf Group for years, Tim Hatch and Louie Divino began thinking it might be time to expand into the outdoor hospitality industry.
Along with partners Mark Halford and Guy Oberg, some of whom were brothers in the same college fraternity, the group began crafting a strategy centered around acquiring RV parks.
“We wanted to develop a strategy based around the idea of aggregating a portfolio of institutional quality RV parks,” Halford explained to WOODALLSCM.com (WCM). “We had the near-term objective of identifying attractive opportunities in Texas and now I think we are ready to explore other markets.”
The group, currently working under the moniker Blue Sky RV Living — you can learn more at www.blueskyrvliving.com — bought its first park in San Marcos, Texas, in December of 2020, Canyon Trail RV Park.
Currently, the group now owns four parks including Canyon Trail; Blue Sky at Cedar Creek Lake in Seven Points; I-35 RV Park and Campground in Waco; and a park the group is developing in Johnson City.
“The Johnson City park sits on about 25 acres and it is going to include 150 high-end RV sites and 40 to 50 glamping units,” Halford noted.
The Blue Sky at Cedar Creek Lake was originally developed by another individual but never opened to the public. It includes 150-plus RV sites and the group plans to add 50 to 60 more sites. Halford said that it was purchased in September 2021 and that the group is currently finishing all of the work on the various amenities the park will have when it opens.
Blue Sky RV Living’s Waco park was acquired in early January and includes 250 sites.
“It is more of a monthly park,” Halford said. “One of the unique parts of the property is that it has steel frame covers that shade 86 of the sites. It can get hot, so those shades definitely help.”
Halford noted that the group is interested in pursuing sites outside of the state of Texas, but that nothing has come together yet.
“We have kicked a lot of tires in Georgia, the Carolinas, Colorado and we are currently looking at a park in Kentucky, so we are very open to going into other markets,” he explained. “It’s just a matter of finding the right ones and having the resources to be able to properly operate and manage them.”
Halford told WCM that each of the group’s parks cater to a different segment of campers.
“Our Canyon Trail park is mostly filled with full-timers and contract workers at the moment,” he said. “Our Cedar Creek location is more family-friendly and we are looking to add more amenities geared towards kids. We have spent some time at Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park Camp-Resorts locations and I think we are going to use that as a benchmark.
“Our park being developed in Johnson City is going to have more of a high-end glamping feel,” Halford added. “You have a lot of different vineyards and wineries in that location. Our 1-35 RV Park definitely caters to more full-timers, 180 out of the 250 sites are long-term, monthly sites.”
Hatch noted that while each park is very unique and caters to a specific clientele at the moment, the group plans to have more consistency.
“We do look to have a consistency of certain things, which is just a Class A type experience, whether that means finishes and looks within the buildings, bathrooms or showers, or aiming to deliver concrete pads on all or most of our sites at any given park,” he noted. “We want to be customer-service driven and customer experience-driven. Really, just trying to set the mark of an overall high-end experience or Class A experience across the brand.”
Divino noted to WCM that the group is moving into this industry with imagination and a large canvas that it is creating all of these spaces on.
“We are seeing a growth in the RV lifestyle, and it is not just recreational, now there is a true desire-based lifestyle with the influx of distance learning and working,” he explained. “Wherever they desire to live, they want to go and live there in an RV park, and we want to take that experience to the next level. We bring experience from the multifamily business of the customer service needs. What they want, what they need on a long-term and short-term basis, how you interface with the customer…etc. That is where our imagination leads us. That’s what we’re going to gravitate to every single day.”
Blue Sky RV Living has been working with local banks it has developed relationships with over the years to secure financing for most of this growth, according to Halford, with a publicly-traded real estate investment trust providing financing for the group’s Waco park due to its more stabilized cash flow.
“On the equity side, we’re always looking to grow our investor base, but most of it’s been friends and family equity on each of our investments,” Halford highlighted.
Divino noted that it has been great working within the industry and that they had a good time talking with people at the National Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds’ Outdoor Hospitality Conference and Expo in November.
“It has been a joy to connect and work with people and just the way that the community responded,” he said.
Looking to the future, Halford said that the group plans to buy another six to 10 parks in 2022.
“From a capacity standpoint, it might be difficult to accomplish that, but we’re in the process and we just hired a project manager to help us with all the various developments we’ve got going on,” he explained. “If we get bogged down with everything we’ve got on our plate right now, it might be less. But if we latch onto a portfolio acquisition or something like that, then maybe it will be more.”
